Rick Santorum on Crime

Republican Jr Senator (PA)

Broken homes increase delinquency, crime, and jail

Crime is related to family structure. We should know this from common sense and our own life experiences. But for those who need a study to prove what is obvious, I have a bunch. In one study of more than 6,000 young men ages
14 to 22, it was found that boys who grew up without a married mother and father were more than twice as likely to end up in jail as boys who did.
This proved true even after taking into account factors such as a mother's education level, race, family income, & community unemployment rates and median income.

Other studies have shown that broken homes can increase the delinquency in a community by
10 to 15 percent, and the proportion of single-parent households in a community predicts the rate of violent crime and burglary much better than a community's level of poverty.

Allow felons to vote again after 5 years crime-free

African-American communities are hard hit by crime: the large percentages of black men who become involved in the criminal justice system. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that
16.2 percent of blacks will go to prison at some point in their lives, compared to 2.5 percent of whites. For black males, the number is 28.5 percent.
The impact of these figures upon the community is staggering. Just think what these percentages mean to marriage, to families, and to children. Plus, in many states, convicted felons can never vote, practically ensuring that large numbers of black men
are permanently disengaged from civic life. That is why I have supported state laws and even voted for federal laws allowing felons to vote again, provided they have been crime-free for five years.

Support Prison Fellowship InnerChange Freedom Initiative

We pray that convicted felons experience rehabilitation and, if they do, we should grant them forgiveness. Forgiveness is POWERFUL--but right now, in many states, we're withholding our forgiveness, because we never fully welcome the ex-felon back into
society. The good news is that this is truly a captive audience. And most of these men really do want to change their lives.

In four states--TX, IA, KS, & MN--Prison Fellowship runs the InnerChange Freedom Initiative. It's a 24-hour-a-day program that
runs for the last 12 to 18 months of a prisoner's sentence, and then at least another 6 months after the prisoner is released. "It's an explicitly Christian program. However, we accept inmate of all faiths. We teach the inmate that no matter how horrible
their crime is, if they sincerely repent and turn their lives over to Christ, make amends to their victims, and work at having a different worldview when they are released they can lead healthy, productive, law-abiding lives. That gives them hope."

Voted NO on $1.15 billion per year to continue the COPS program.

Vote on an amendment to authorize $1.15 billion per year from 2000 through 2005 to continue and expand the Community Oriented Policing Services program. $600 million of the annual funding is marked for hiring additional officers [up to 50,000]

Voted YES on limiting death penalty appeals.

Vote to table, or kill, a motion to send the bill back to the joint House-Senate conference committee with instructions to delete the provisions in the bill that would make it harder for prisoners given the death penalty in state courts to appeal.